The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In plant breeding and selection processes, genotypic data can be gathered by performing DNA analysis on seed specimens then breeding plants based on the analysis. For example, at least one known breeding and selection process involves removing or extracting samples from a plurality of seeds in such a manner that leaves the sampled seeds viable for planting. Subsequently, the sampled seeds are planted in ellepots and allowed to germinate keeping data correlating, or linking, each planted seed with the respective removed sample. Typically, each populated ellepot is marked to link the respective populated ellepot with the corresponding extracted chip and stored in an ellepot tray, e.g., a twenty-four receptacle ellepot tray. The ellepot trays are then placed side-by-side in a controlled growing environment, e.g., a greenhouse, resulting in hundreds or thousands of ellepots populated with germinating seeds being grouped together in the controlled growing environment.
As the planted seeds are germinating in the ellepots, the removed or extracted samples undergo DNA analysis to identify which of the samples, and hence, identify which of the corresponding germinating seeds, have one or more desired genetic traits. After the particular germinating seeds having the one or more desired genetic traits are identified, i.e., selected, the respective ellepots must be located and removed from the hundreds or thousands of populated ellepots within the controlled growing environment. Such known methods involve manually locating the selected ellepots among the hundreds or thousands within the controlled growing environment, removing the selected ellepots from the respective ellepot tray and transferring the selected ellepots to subsequent ellepot trays to be transported to test fields where the selected ellepots are planted for breeding purposes.
Manually locating the selected ellepots, removing them from the ellepot trays and transferring them to subsequent ellepot trays is a labor intensive, time consuming and costly.